In recent years, poker has become very popular. One of the most common variations of poker is Five Card Draw. In general, in Five Card Draw poker the player gets five cards dealt face up from a 52 card deck of playing cards. The player can discard none, one, a plurality or all of the five cards. Each discarded card is replaced with another card from the deck. After the replacement, the cards are evaluated for winning combinations. For a five card poker game, there are ten general categories of hands, ranked from highest to lowest, as shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1Ranking of Five Card Poker Hands by CategoryRankNameExample1Royal Straight FlushA   K   Q   J   10  2Straight FlushK   Q   J   10   9  3Four of a KindJ   J♥ J♦ J   3  4Full HouseA♥ A♦ A   6♦ 6  5FlushA   J   8   6   2  6Straight8♦ 7   6   5   4  7Three of a KindQ   Q♥ Q♦ 6♦ 2  8Two Pair8♦ 8♥ 5♥ 5   2  9One PairK♦ K   8   7   2♥10High CardA♥ 10   7♦ 5   3  
Within each category, hands are ranked according to the rank of individual cards, with an Ace being the highest card and a two being the lowest card. There is no difference in rank between the four suits of cards. All hands can be ranked in a linear ranking from highest to lowest. Because suits are all of the same value, however, there are multiple hands that have identical rankings. For example, there are four equivalent hands for each type of straight flush, four of a kind, or flush, there are over a hundred equivalent hands for each two pair variation, and there are over 1,000 equivalent hands for each type of no-pair hand.
Numerous variations of poker exist, including Five Card Draw as mentioned above, Three Card Poker, Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, Hold'em (also called Texas Hold'em), Omaha (also called Omaha Hold'em), and Pai-Gow Poker. The variations in these games generally differ in the manner in which cards are dealt and in the manner and frequency in which bets are placed. Various criteria may also be used to determine the winning hand, including highest ranking hand, lowest ranking hand (Low-Ball), and where the high and low hands each win half of the pot (High-Low).
In certain known multiplayer variations of poker, the players play against each other rather than against a dealer or house. In certain of these variations, a round of play begins when each player has placed an initial bet, called the ante, into the pot. The term pot refers to the total accumulation of antes and wagers made during a particular game. However, in other poker variations, such as Texas Hold'em, only two players at a table make the initial bets, commonly referred to as the blinds. These blinds include a large blind and a small blind. The large blind is typically twice the value of the small blind. In a blind based game such as Texas Hold'em, all players are initially eligible to receive a hand, even if they did not place the large blind or the small blind. After the players have anted or placed the blinds, depending on the game, each player eligible for play is dealt an initial set of cards.
The number of cards dealt depends on the particular variation of poker being played. For example, in Five Card Draw, each player is initially dealt five cards. In typical Three Card Poker games where the player plays against a dealer hand, the player is dealt a total of three cards and the dealer hand includes a total of three cards as well. In certain known Three Card Poker games, the initially dealt player hand and dealer hand are final and there is no option to replace or draw any new cards. In Texas Hold'em, Five Card Stud and Seven Card Stud, each player is initially dealt two cards. These cards are typically dealt face-down. However, depending on the game, some of the cards may be dealt face-up to the player. For example, in Five Card Stud, each player is initially dealt one card face-up and one card face-down. In Texas Hold'em, each player is initially dealt two cards face-down which are commonly referred to as the hole cards.
For certain poker variations where additional cards are dealt or where cards may be replaced, after the initial deal, a first round of wagering begins, where the players have the opportunity to place wagers. If a player places a wager, that wager must be matched (i.e., called) or raised by each player that wants to remain in the game. A raise includes matching the previous wager and increasing the total bet. A player who does not match a bet drops out of the game or folds. A round of betting ends when either every player but one has folded, or when the highest bet or raise has been called by each remaining player such that each remaining player has wagered the same amount into the pot during the round.
In other known multiplayer variations of poker, the players play against a dealer or a casino rather than against each other. Some of these variations include Caribbean Stud Poker and Three Card Poker. In one variation of Caribbean Stud Poker the player places an ante wager the dealer deals a five card player hand and a five card dealer hand. One of the cards in the dealer hand is revealed to the player. After this card is revealed and the player has viewed his/her cards, the player must either make a call bet by increasing the player's stake by an amount equal to twice the original ante, or folding, in which case the player forfeits the ante. All of the cards in the dealer hand are revealed and if the dealer hand does not have and A-K or higher, the player's call bet is returned, plus an amount equal to the original ante. If the dealer hand is a A-K or better, and the player hand has a higher rank than the dealer hand, the dealer pays out even money on the ante and fixed odds on the call bet according to a pay table. This is an example of a variation of a poker game played against the casino where, in order to continue the game, the player must increase the original wager. That is, the player must either fold a smaller initial wager or increase their stake in the game. Other player versus casino poker games have features that do not allow additional wagering after the initial wager, and other game variations include one or more optionally wagering opportunities.
The poker variation of Three Card Poker is generally played with a single deck of playing cards, where the player plays against a dealer hand rather than against other players. Certain variations of Three Card Poker include one or more side games. In one example, there is a Play/Ante game where a player plays against the dealer hand to determine who has the highest hand. Also, there is a side-game commonly referred to as the Pair Plus game. In this secondary or side game, the player wagers on whether or not the player will be dealt a pair or better. Certain gaming establishments allow wagering on either of the games and other gaming establishments require a player to make an Ante Bet in order to participate in the Pair Plus portion of the game.
In one common multiplayer version of Three Card Poker, there are three wagering areas at each player position on a gaming table. One wagering area labeled Pair Plus is where the player puts a wager on the Pair Plus game. For the base game, there are two wagering areas labeled Ante and Play. The game starts with a player placing a wager in the Pair Plus and/or Ante circle. After all the players have placed their wagers, the dealer deals three cards face-up to each player. In general, if a player has wagered an Ante they must make a decision to fold or the place a Play wager in order to continue playing after looking at their hand. If the player folds, the Ante wager is forfeited without the player having ever determined if his/her hand would have beaten the dealer's hand. If a player wishes to continue, the player is required to place an additional wager in the Play wagering area equal to their Ante bet. For example, if a player wagered five credits on the Ante bet, the Play wager would also be five credits.
After all the players have determined whether to forfeit or continue playing, the dealer reveals his/her three card hand. According to certain Three Card Poker rules, the dealer must qualify with a hand of Queen or higher for play to continue. If the dealer's hand does not contain a Queen or higher, all active players are paid even money for their Ante wager even if their hand is a lower hand than the dealer hand. Also, the Play wager is returned to the player. If the dealer's hand qualifies, then the dealer's hand is compared to the player's hand. If the player's hand outranks the dealer's hand, the player is paid even money for both the Ante wager and the Play wager. If the dealer's hand beats the player's hand, the player loses both wagers. If the rank of the player's hand is the same as the dealer's hand, the player wins the wager or pushes depending on the house rules.
The hand rankings for Three Card Poker are different than the hand ranking for Five Card Poker as listed in Table 1 above. This is because the mathematical probabilities of making certain hands are different for Three Card Poker and because there are less cards (e.g., you cannot achieve two-pair when you only have three cards). The Three Card Poker hands are generally ranked from the highest to the lowest as shown in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2Ranking of Three Card Poker Hands by CategoryRankNameExample1Straight FlushK   Q   J  2Three of a KindQ   Q♥ Q♦3Straight8♦ 7   6  4FlushA   J   8  5One PairK♦ K   8  6High CardA♥ 10   7♦
The Pair Plus wager is based only on whether a player's three card hand has a pair or higher. The Pair Plus wager is paid based on a pay table established by the gaming establishment. Therefore, even if the player loses to the dealer, if the player has a hand rank of at least a pair, the player wins the Pair Plus wager. Accordingly, a player's Pair Plus wager can be used to hedge against a frustrating loss to the dealer when the player has a good hand. An example pay table for the Pair Plus wager is listed in Table 3 below:
TABLE 3Example Pay Table for Pair Plus HandsHand TypePayoutStraight Flush40-1Three of a Kind30-1Straight 6-1Flush 4-1Pair 1-1
Other variations of Three Card Poker have a bonus payout on the player's hand if the player has a high enough ranking hand without regard to whether the player beat the dealer. For example, if the player did not place a Pair Plus wager, but achieved a very high ranking hand such as a Straight Flush or Three of a Kind, the player would receive a bonus payout.
Three Card Poker has become a quite popular casino table game. Three Card Poker is very easy for a player to learn, and does not take much additional player effort to master the strategy which optimizes player payback. However, the lack of interesting decision making can make this game tiresome to play for more experienced players.
Three Card Poker lacks certain game elements that are popular in other casino games. In video five card draw poker (as described above) for example, the player is given the opportunity to improve their initial hand by replacing one or more of their initial cards. In this five card draw poker game, the player is playing against a set pay table, where payouts are determined based on the rank of the player's final hand as compared to the pay table.
Also, certain players do not enjoy Three Card Poker because of the dealer qualifying rules which distances the player experience from one where the player can feel on more equal footing with his/her opponent as is the case with peer-to-peer poker games.
A need therefore exists for new and exciting poker games with high degrees of player interaction, including a need for new Three Card Poker Games.